U.S. employers expect healthcare cost increases to hold steady at 6 percent and more plan to adopt consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) in 2010 in an effort to control cost increases, according to a forthcoming survey by Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health.
The survey of 489 large U.S. employers found that the median rate of health cost increases is expected to remain at 6 percent in 2009, although this is still nearly twice the rate of inflation. The increase is the same rate that employers experienced in both 2007 and 2008.
Just more than half (51 percent) of companies now offer workers a CDHP, up from 47 percent in 2008. Another 8 percent are expected to adopt a CDHP by 2010. Companies with at least half of their workers enrolled in a CDHP have a two-year cost trend (4.6 percent) that is 25 percent lower than non-CDHP sponsors (6.1 percent).
The 14th Annual National Business Group on Health/Watson Wyatt report will be published in mid-March.
Read the press release.
